Beat The Mets, Beat The Mets, Step Right Up And Punch Beltran Out On Three Straight Pitches

That 0-2 curveball right over the middle of the plate was the equivalent of a gigantic double-barreled middle finger to the Mets offense:

The Mets’ offense, so potent during the regular season, was silenced for much of the series. They mustered only two hits through eight innings against Cardinals starter Jeff Suppan, the N.L.C.S. most valuable player, and reliever Randy Flores, before mounting a brief rally in the ninth.

Leading off, José Valentín and Endy Chávez hit consecutive singles off the rookie closer Adam Wainwright. Trying for a Kirk Gibson moment, the injured pinch-hitter Cliff Floyd struck out looking. José Reyes lined out before Paul Lo Duca walked, loading the bases.

But Wainwright struck out Beltrán on three pitches, the last a wicked curveball, to cap a most improbable postseason run.

On another note, if you get your New Yorker monocle in place, there’s something especially poignant about the butcher and the baker and the people on the streets* who “watched” the game from the 7 subway platform:

At Shea, there are box seats and bleacher seats and nosebleeds in the upper deck. There are even places for fans who are not in the ballpark. These would be the standing-room sections of the Willets Point-Shea Stadium station of the No. 7 train, an elevated line that runs by the stadium. Riders can peer through train windows into Shea, and resourceful fans without the resources to buy tickets can find spots on the platform to peer into the stadium and catch glimpses of the game, albeit incomplete ones.

. . .

To watch the game from right outside the stadium is to miss a lot of the action, but it is also a viewing experience that is free of pitch counts and statistics and commercials.

On the landing of a stairwell leading down from the platform to Roosevelt Avenue, a dozen fans gathered and enjoyed a view of the field that included second and third base and part of the outfield.

One of them, Steven Ramirez, 22, from Jackson Heights, said he was watching the game from here “just to get the thrill of the fans.”

“I only have $30 and I couldn’t touch a ticket for that,” he said. “Us people, we don’t got the means to get in, but it’s O.K. You can tell what’s happening just by the fans and using common sense.”

The Chavez family took two subway trains to Shea from their home in Jamaica, Queens. Elmer and Claudia Chavez brought their son, Jonathan, 10, who brought his Rawlings mitt.

“We wanted to come and be a part of the big party,” Elmer Chavez said. Jonathan pounded his little fist into his mitt and said, “If we really need to know what happened, we’ll call my grandpa, because he’s watching the game at home.”

The game was under way and the leadoff batter took the pitch. The crowd roared. “That’s strike one,” yelled Jonathan.

Anthony Nyquan, 28, from the Castle Hill section of the Bronx, said, “I came with $200 in my pocket and I still couldn’t afford a ticket from a scalper.

“So I figured I’ll save my money and stand here and watch,” he said. “Even though I’m not in the stands, I can feel the game. No way I’m going to miss this game. I could go home and watch it on TV, but I feel if I’m here, the Mets will win.”

From the stairwell landing, fans could not see the pitcher, but as Keith Last, 26, of Manhattan, explained: “You can tell just by watching the third baseman when the pitch is coming. You see what you can see, and the crowd kind of tells you the rest.”

*See, for example.